Polystyrene-b-polyisoprene thin films with hexagonally perforated layer structure: quantitative grazing-incidence X-ray scattering analysis

Grazing-incidence X-ray scattering (GIXS) formulas for hexagonally perforated layer (HPL) structures with ABC and AB stacking sequences were derived, and used in the quantitative analysis of the two-dimensional GIXS patterns of polystyrene-b-polyisoprene (PS-b-PI) diblock copolymer thin films supported on silicon substrates. This quantitative analysis provided detailed information (shape, size and size distribution, packing order, layer packing sequence, and orientation) about the HPL structure of the diblock copolymer films that cannot be easily obtained with conventional X-ray and neutron scattering techniques or with conventional microscopic methods.